4.  The applicant was born in 1961 and lives in Poltava.
5.  The applicant is a private entrepreneur in the food supply sector.
6.  Since November 2009 the Poltava Regional Police Department has been investigating a number of apparent offences related to forgery of food quality certificates and supply of overpriced foodstuffs for school catering in the city of Poltava. As part of this investigation the police ran checks on the applicant’s business and questioned his associates and family members.
7.  On 3 November 2010 the police instituted criminal proceedings against the applicant in the context of an investigation of unlawful food supply price increases.
8.  On 5 November 2010 the applicant was arrested by the police on suspicion of a financial offence. A record of his arrest was drawn up between 2.45 and 3.30 p.m. on that day.
9.  On 8 November 2010 the applicant was taken to the Poltava Oktyabrsky District Court (hereinafter “the District Court”), which remanded him in custody for up to ten days under Article 165-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (see paragraph 19 below) without giving any specific reasons for this decision. According to the applicant, the hearing started at 2.55 p.m. and the decision was taken only at 4 p.m., when the maximum period of detention without a court decision (seventy-two hours) permitted under domestic law had expired. The applicant’s lawyer lodged a formal complaint with the judge about unlawful arrest and detention. That complaint was not examined that day.
10.  On the same day the police instituted two more sets of proceedings against the applicant on suspicion of other counts of the same crime.
11.  On 9 November 2010 the applicant’s lawyer submitted to the court a further complaint about unlawful detention, in addition to the one he had submitted on the date of the hearing (see paragraph 9 above).
12.  On 15 November 2010 the District Court remanded the applicant in custody with no maximum duration and on the basis of standard reasoning, referring to gravity of charges, risk of interference with investigation, and personal characteristics without any further explanation. In a separate ruling it rejected the applicant’s lawyer’s complaint (see paragraph 9 above) that from 2.45 p.m. onwards on 8 November 2010 his detention had been unlawful. It noted “Documents [attached] to the application [for a warrant for the applicant’s arrest] refute the allegations regarding the detention of [Mr] Gal O.A. in terms that are not provided by law.”
13.  On 23 November 2010 the Poltava Regional Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the first-instance court. In reply to the lawyer’s complaint about the failure to release the applicant after seventy-two hours of initial detention without a court order, the appellate court noted that on 8 November 2010 the applicant’s detention had been extended for up to ten days.
14.  On 29 December 2010 the District Court extended the applicant’s detention for up to three months, i.e. until 5 February 2011, on the grounds that the applicant might avoid justice, obstruct the investigation and continue his criminal activities, and that it was necessary to ensure the implementation of procedural decisions.
15.  On 18 January 2011 the Poltava Regional Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the first-instance court.
16.  On 3 February 2011 the criminal case against the applicant was referred to the court and was received by that court on 4 February 2011. Twenty days later the prosecution authorities called the case back to correct certain shortcomings. On 25 February 2011 the court returned the case to the prosecutor, who sent the case back to the court on the same day.
17.  On 25 March 2011 the Poltava Leninskiy District Court examined the application for release lodged by the applicant’s lawyer and allowed it. The applicant’s pre-trial detention was replaced by an obligation not to abscond.